Factsheet Violation of Children's Rights in the Gaza Strip

01 30 November 2012
This factsheet describes violations of children's rights in the Gaza Strip in accordance with the Monitoring & Reporting Mechanism on grave violations of childrens rights in situations of armed conflict, which was adopted by the Security Council in its Resolution No. 1612 (2005). This Mechanism requires monitoring and documentation of killing and maiming of children, recruitment and use of children by armed forces or armed groups, attacks on schools or hospitals, rape or other sexual violence, forced deportation of children, abduction of children, and denial of humanitarian access. This factsheet covers the period from 01 to 30 November 2012. 1. Deaths During the reporting period the number of deaths in the Gaza Strip sharply increased due to the latest Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip (14-21 November 2012). During the reporting period, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) documented 39 deaths among children (30 boys and 9 girls); 35 of them (26 boys and 9 girls) were killed during the Israeli offensive; as a result of Israeli shelling of civilian houses and property in the Gaza Strip. PCHR also documented the killing of 4 children; 3 were victims of Israeli attacks and 1 died of shrapnel wound from a homemade rocket that was aimed at Israel, which landed near a civilian house in the northern Gaza Strip. On 14 November 2012, Israeli forces launched an 8-day-long offensive against the Gaza Strip. In context of the offensive, PCHR documented hundreds of attacks by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, including the targeting of hundreds of houses, public facilities, agricultural, industrial and naval property in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli authorities declared that it had targeted over 1,460 targets throughout the Gaza Strip and claimed to have targeted facilities and buildings belonging to Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. They also announced that their aerial and naval operations targeted members of the Palestinian armed groups. According to the findings of PCHRs investigations, 170 Palestinians were killed, including 25 children and 14 women; 1,273 Palestinians were injured, including 457 children and 219 women. The investigations also proved that the vast majority of the dead children were victims of airstrikes by Israeli warplanes against civilian houses and public facilities in densely-populated areas. Moreover, these attacks made hundreds of children and their families homeless. The number of children in the Gaza Strip is approximately 800,000 out of the total population of 1.7 million.

Many of the Israeli airstrikes targeted civilian houses, which led to the killing of dozens of civilians, including children and their family members. On 18 November 2012, 11 civilians were killed in the targeting of al-Dalu family residence in Gaza by Israeli warplanes, including 5 children. All bodies were recovered from the rubbles of the completely destroyed 3-storey house. Also on 19 November 2012, Fou'ad Khalil Ibrahim Hijazi's (46) house, northern Jablia, was targeted by Israeli warplanes; as a result, Fou'ad Hijazi and two of his sons (Mohammed, 4, and Souhaib, 2) were killed. 28 others were injured in the attack, including 7 of the Hijazi family. On 14 November 2012, 5-year-old Rinan Arafat was killed after her house was targeted by Israeli warplanes. On 15 November 2012, Israeli forces launched hundreds of airstrikes against the Gaza Strip; as a result, Odai Jamal Nasser, 15, and Fares Ahmed al-Basyouni, 8, were killed while they were inside their houses and 16 other children were wounded in Beit Hanoun town. On the same day, 10-month-old Haneen Khaled Ahmed Tafesh died of wounded she had sustained in the head when an Israeli warplane bombarded her family's house in al-Zaytoun neighborhood. On 18 November 2012, 10-year-old Tasneem Zuhair Mohammed al-Nahhal, was killed while playing outside her house after Israeli gunboats stationed opposite Gaza beach fired an artillery shell near her at a member of the Palestinian armed groups. On 18 November 2012, 1-year-old Eyad Abu-Khousa was killed after Israeli gunboats stationed opposite Gaza beach fired an artillery shell at the fence of his house. Also during the reporting period, the Israeli forces killed 3 children: On 08 November 2012, 3-year-old Ahmed Younis Khader Abu Daqqa was seriously wounded by a bullet to the abdomen while playing football with 4 of his friends in front of his house, which is located nearly 1,500 meters away from border fence and the area where the Israeli forces were present. He was transported to the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Yunis, but he was pronounced dead 15 minutes later. On 10 November 2012, Mohammed Ussama Hassan Harara, 16; and Ahmed Mustafa Khaled Harara, 17 were killed when Israeli military vehicles stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel fired an artillery shell at a number of Palestinian children who were playing football at al-Mentar Hill east of al-Shujaiya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, nearly 1,500 meters away from the border.

2. Injuries During the reporting period, 486 Palestinian children were wounded, including 457 children who were wounded during the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, and 20 were wounded as a result of Israeli attacks on the rest of the reporting period (11 children before the offensive and 9 other after the implementation of the truce-deal between the Palestinian armed groups and Israel and Egyptian and international auspices). According to PCHRs documentation, during the Israeli offensive, 457 children sustained various wounds, including 154 in the northern Gaza Strip, 229 in Gaza city,

30 in Central Gaza Strip, 11 in Khan Younis and 33 in Rafah. Most significantly was the injury of 18 children in the Israeli attacks on 17 November 2012. Thousands of Palestinian children suffered from severe psychological problems as a result of the horrifying shelling and impacts of the exploding bombs and missiles Israel used against its targets. As a result, thousands of children suffered from night terrors, lack of sleep and severe psychological problems. The other documented injuries during the reporting period were as follows: At approximately 17:00 on 10 November 2012, Motassem Fawzi al-Najjar, 10, and Ibrahim Sameer al-Najjar, 17, were injured when Israeli forces positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Khan Yunis, fired 2 artillery shells at the water tank of the Khuzaa Municipality. Shrapnel from the shells hit 11 Palestinian civilians, including 5 women. At approximately 15:30 Israeli military vehicles stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel fired an artillery shell at a number of Palestinian children who were playing football at al-Mentar Hill east of al-Shojaiya neighborhood, which is east of Gaza City and nearly 1,500 meters away from the border. As a result, 2 children were instantly killed: Mohammed Ussama Hassan Harara, 16; and Ahmed Mustafa Khaled Harara, 17. Following this attack, a number of Palestinian civilians, who gathered to mourn a bereaved in the house of the Harara family, rushed to the area, where the Israeli forces immediately fired another 3 shells. As a result, 2 Palestinian civilians were instantly killed; 38 were injured, including 9 children. 9 Palestinian children sustained various injuries after enforcement of cease-fire and the truce-deal between Israeli and the Palestinian armed groups, as the Israeli forces fired at children who approached the eastern borders in the Gaza Strip.

PCHR also documented 9 other injuries among children during the reporting period as a result of security chaos and misuse of weapons in the Gaza Strip: On 16 November 2012, 5 children (04 months 12 years) from Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip, were injured when a home-made rocket fired by Palestinian armed groups towards Israel missed went astray and landed near a house belonging to Mattar Khela. 48, from Jablya. The injured were: Tamer 4; Mohammed 5; and Karam Sharif Khela, 4 months; Fares Ahmed Sa'd Allah, 12; and Mohameed Ramdan Abu-Warda, 10. On 21 November 2012, 4 children from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, sustained injuries after a group of gunmen fired in the air to celebrate the trucedeal between Israel and the Palestinian armed groups under Egyptian and international auspices. The injured are: Daoud Ra'ouf Shanan, 16; Laila Yassir Abu-Sultan, 15; Rimas Usama Oka, 5; and Laila Mohammed Abu-Tabaq, 4.

3. Arrests During the reporting period, PCHR documented the arrest of 3 children by Israeli forces. Two of them, from al-Braij Refugee Camp, were arrested while trying to cross

the border fence to Israel. The third child was arrested at sea, while fishing at 5 nautical miles off the Beit Lahia shore, in the north of the Gaza Strip. On 02 November 2012, Israeli forces, positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of al-Braij, arrested two children while attempting to cross the border fence. They were identified as: Ibrahim Yassir Zarid, 17; and Izzat Mohammed Jouda, 17; from al-Nussirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip. At approximately 10:15 on 29 November 2012, Israeli naval forces intercepted a Palestinian fishing boat boarding 6 fishermen from Gaza, while sailing at 5 nautical miles off the Beit Lahia shore. Israeli forces arrested all those who were on board the boat, including Na'im Fahed Baker, 16. Baker was interrogated on board the Israeli gunboat before being released at approximately 12:30 the same day.

4. Access to Education Services According to PCHRs documentation, during the reporting period, Israeli warplanes targeted Palestinian schools (public and UNRWA) during the latest offensive against the Gaza Strip. 88 schools sustained severe damages (55 Public and 33 UNRWA schools), as a result of the Israeli shelling of civilian houses, agricultural lands and governmental facilities. During the offensive, all schools in the Gaza Strip were closed. 5. Access to Health Services According to PCHRs documentation, during the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, 19 health service facilities (15 public and 4 UNRWA ones) sustained various damages as a result of the Israeli shelling. Furthermore, these attacks made it harder for patients, especially children, to access health services. Violations of Childrens Rights in the Gaza Strip 01 30 November 2012 Month November Deaths 39 Injuries 486 Arrests 3 Access to Education Services 88 Access to Health Services 19